Proton therapy is a type of external beam radiation therapy characterized for using a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other conventional therapies such as X-ray or neutron radiation therapies is the ability to administer treatment dosages three-dimensionally by specifying the depth (i.e., limiting the penetration) of applied radiation, thereby limiting the inadvertent exposure of un-targeted cells to the potentially harmful radiation. This enables proton therapy treatments to more precisely localize the radiation dosage relative to other types of external beam radiotherapy. During proton therapy treatment, a particle accelerator, such as a cyclotron, is used to generate a beam of protons from, for example, an internal ion source located in the center of the cyclotron. The protons in the beam are accelerated (via a generated electric field), and the beam of accelerated protons is subsequently “extracted,” magnetically directed through a series of interconnecting tubes (called the beamline), often through multiple chambers, rooms, or even floors of a building, and finally applied to a target area/subject in a target treatment room.
Due to the high cost of manufacturing, installing, and servicing a proton particle accelerator (such as a cyclotron), even clinical institutions which provide proton beam therapy services typically will have only one cyclotron on the premises. As a result, this requires that usage of a cyclotron at a clinical facility for proton therapy be shared—amongst its requesting proton therapy practitioners, for example. For clinical facilities with several treatment rooms, the proton beam can be distributed (via magnetic directing) to each treatment room or suite of rooms as needed. Unfortunately, conventional sharing systems for a central beam-source can be overly simple, inefficient, and uncertain. For example, conventional proton beam-sharing systems may require dedicated engineers to monitor beam allocation and to re-allocate the beam to other treatment rooms. Naturally, this would require additional lines of communication (e.g., between the engineer and therapist for a treatment room, and even between engineers of different treatment rooms) and user attention—which may result in adverse effects, such as delays, inefficiency, and simple human error.
Alternative proton beam-sharing systems may include a centralized system that allows a plurality of therapists to semi-automatically request usage of a generated proton beam. However, these systems provide very limited visibility for the requesting practitioners, typically only indicating whether the proton accelerator is in use, and perhaps which treatment room the proton beam is currently being directed to. Even systems that allow a simple queuing generally do not provide enough information for a therapist to estimate, with any degree of granularity, when the proton beam may be available for the therapist to use. A therapist must therefore closely monitor the interface to determine when an appropriate request may be made (e.g., when the proton accelerator is idle, and when the beam has been granted to them). Naturally, this uncertainty can also result in significant inefficiency, delay, and patient discomfort/inconvenience.